Sacramento daily record-union. [volume] (Sacramento [Calif.]) 1875-1891, 1887-12-03
NOTES OF SCIENCE.

NOTES OF SCIENCE.
a new disinfectant is called creolin 1t
is said to be superior to carbolic acid.
In Europe thrifty trees and good crops
of peaches have been secured from gratis
on the hawthorn.
The stems and waste of tobacco are said
to be as good as linen rags in the manu-
facturer of paper.
Highly polished brass may be kept alb
solutely bright and free from tarnish by
thinly coating the articles with varnish
of bleached shellac and alcohol.
A bit of soft paper is recommended by
an English doctor for dropping medicine
into the eye as being equally effective as
brushes, glass-droppers, etc, and far less
Likely to introduce foreign substances.
In an exhaustive paper upon methods of
measuring thin films Otto Wiener makes
certain measures of the thickness of film
of silver which can just be perceived by
the eye, and arrives at the conclusion that
g. millionths of millimeter is an upper
limit of the diameter of silver molecule.
A Pittsburg paper describes new tel
ephone on exhibition in that city that does
away with the necessity of speaking. A
sensitive plate "presses against the larynx
and glands of the neck, and as the jaws are
moved in conversation the motion sends
the words along the wire as distinctly as
the telephone now in use"
One of the cheapest and best modes of
destroying insects in pot plants is to invert
the pot and dip the plants for few sec
onds in water warmed to 1902. A German
paper, referring to this plan, says that the
azalca will stand 1889 without injury.
Usually heat the water pretty well, and
pour in cool until $50 is reached.
The Locomotive recently published cuts
made from photographs of sections Of boil
ers which had been very badly corroded
by water contaminated by sewage, such as
the leakage of privy vaults, etc. The cor
rosion is of a bad and dangerous character,
and shows that it is necessary to see that
such impure water is not allowed to enter
boilers.
The new pencils introduced by Faber for
writing upon glass, porcelain and metals in
red, white and blue, are made by melting
together spermaceti four parts; tallow,
three parts, and wax two parts, and color
ing the mixture with white lead, red lead
or Prussian blue, as desired. These pen
ellis are convenient in the laboratory. and
save the trouble of labelling.
One of the latest attempts to harness the
forces of nature for the service of man is
the adaptation of windmill for the turn
ing of dynamo, the electricity thus OBJ
tanned being stored in suitable batteries.
and aftprwa,.1 ncol ~, .rl,+ e
the benefit of the maritime interests.
There is station of this kind near the
mouth of the Seine, and considerable sue
cess has been obtained.
A new method of extracting sugar from
molasses has recently been proposed by
using wood spirits or methylic alcohol,
which has the property of completely dis
solving molasses or strip. Sugar and salts
may be separated as oxalates, while the
organic acids and nitric substances remain
in the solution. There is much additional
fire risk in this process, as methylic alco-
hol is very inflammable.
A good shellac can be made by taking
two cans of the same hight, but with one a
half-inch larger in diameter than the
other. Have the smaller can soldered fast
in the center of the larger can, leaving a
quarter of an inch space all around. The
cover should project down into this space
about two inches. If this annular quarter
inch space be filled with water it will pre-
vent absolutely any evaporation from the
shelac when the can is closed Wood and
Iron
The american Mdchinist gives the follow
ing as cure for chapped hands: Wash
the hands with fine soap, and before re-
moving the soap scrub the hands with
tablespoonful of Indian meal, rinsing thor
oughly with soft tepid water, using little
meal each time except the last; wipe the
hands perfectly dry, then rinse them in
very little water containing teaspoonful
of pure glycerine, rubbing the hands to-
gether until the water has evaporated. The
glycerine must be pure or it will irritate
instead of healing.
According to DIR. Hunt, Secretary of the
New Jersey Board of Health, diphtheria is
largely due to damp cellars which are sud-
denly heated in the fall, and his theory is
verified by various reports where the dis
ease has ragged. 1t is claimed that during
the summer in many cellars good deal of
vegetable matter is allowed to decay. and
when the fires are started in the fall this
decayed matter is stirred up and mingled
with a peculiar dampness, which must be
in the cellar, and it pervades the entire
house.
A. Pringle claims to have discovered six
new substances insome lower silurian rocks
in Selkirk. Five are said to be metals. and
the other is substance resembling hesper-
lslum. One metal is like iron, but does
not give the rhodanate reaction, nor that
with tannin; another resembles lead, is
quite fusible and volatile, and forms yellow
and green salts another is black. and he
names it erebodium the fourth is lighter
gray powder and the last is dark in color.
For three of these elements the author az
signs the equivalents 95.4, 1876 and IA
Aluminium united with brass improves
1t by giving to it greater strength, ductil-
lty and resistance to corrosive action. Cast
ings made from it are sharper. Alumni
1um united with copper and nickel gives
an alloy that closely resembles silver.
which takes and holds an edge like steel,
and for all uses it excels German silver.
nickel-silver, britannia, white metal. etc,
Aluminium united with silver gives an
alloy that is not furnished by sulphur.
tough, strong, light and inexpensive as
compared with pure silver. Aluminium
united with iron produces an alloy twenty
ty-hye per cent. stronger than iron, and |
which oxidizes less quickly than iron. |
Aluminium united with steel gives an
alloy that is very tough, hard and elastic.
1t takes bright silver polish, rusts less
easily than steel, and is very like the
Wootz steel, OF which the Damascus blades
are made, having all its best qualities. !